Joseph boyd



AME.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 25.4919.

Patented June 17, 1919.

367M515 gal Tr4E NoRn/s Pass: :11. PNOTO-LITHOH wAsnmcroN. a. c.

pnrrnn srn'rns run JOSEPH BOYD, OF CLONBUR, IRELAND.

" IUTTEE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

' shape of his leg,

Patented June 17, rate.

Application filed April 25, 1919. Serial No. 292,719.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH BOYD, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, of Ebor Hall, Clonbur, Co. Galway, Ireland, have invented new and useful Improvements in Puttees and Methods of Making the S. me, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates chiefly to puttees, and particularly to their application as military equipment.

Puttees, as now supplied to the soldiers who are compelled to wear them, have serious defects and cause such bad results, it is of imperative importance that a properly fitting and properly constructed puttee should be supplied to the army.

My invention relates to the production of such a puttee.

Puttees are available made from a straight bandage and molded on a former with the aidof steam which are spiral in form and follow the contour of the leg but the shape is obviously not permanent. My invention aims at a spirally woven or knitted puttee with a permanent curve of about 1- inch in 12 inches where needed, and possessing other important improvements.

Before describing my invention and its advantages I may usefully point out the disadvantages of the present puttees as served to the soldiers.

It is a woven or knitted fabric made quite straight and it is imposs'ble to apply it evenly on the calf of the leg, as the circumference of the leg at the upper margin of the puttee convolution is about 3 inches greater than at its lower margin. The unfortunate wearer is condemned to drag the to bring the lower margin sufficiently close to the leg and it gapes badly. In the vain endeavor to make the puttees spiral by wearing them he suffers torture, distorts the is unable to march his normal distance and finally fails (no matter how long he wears them) to produce anything but a slight and quite inadequate spiral on his puttee. a

This aggravates the varicose veins of the wearer resulting in depression and lowering of his morale. There is no way of lower end of the puttee to the boot to prevent slipping, and thus make sure of the upto weavers.

fixing the per end finishing at regulation point, and his tlme in consequence is wasted removing and re applying. Finally he cannot do physical drill without removing his puttees.

These and other disadvantages are overcome by my invention which I shall now describe in detail, with the aid of the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 shows the inner side of an unfinished left puttee knitted or woven on the curve about 9!; feet long and laid fiat.

Fig. 2 (on twice the scale of Fig. 1) shows the knee end of the same puttee and Fig. 3 is a similar view of the boot end. Figs. l, 5 and 6 show the same knee end in successive stages of development, and Fig. 7 its final form, while Fig. 8 illustrates the final appearance of the boot end of the puttee.

The fabric blank of my puttee may be composed of warp and weft threads crossing each other as in ordinary weaving, or made from loops as in knitted or hosiery fabrics but in either case I prefer to use thread or yarn made from wavy elastic wool of the merino type. a

A left puttee blank woven on the curve, preparatory to being treated by my process, is shownby A in Fig. 1. Portions 7c and b (marked with cross hatch lines) intended for the kneeand boot ends respectively are subjected to treatment which will evert, that is to say, reverse the curvature as fully explained hereinafter.

To weave the fabric on the curve, the warp threads are taken not olf a warp beam but off spools weighted-a method well known They are thus more easily pulled out in the process of weaving and made gradually longer toward the outer or larger curve of the fabric by the conical drum or beam to be presently described.

As regards the conical drum or beam, this is best placed in front of or takes the place of the breast beam in the loom, and is covered with perforated tin or tentered to keep the warp or cloth from slipping as it rolls over it.

The cone is so graduated that if it is required to weave say a puttee l inches wide with an inner curve of 1 inch to the foot, then the cone is made of 12 inches incircumference where the inner curveof the fabric passes over it as it is woven, while it is about 15 inches in circumference where the outer or larger curve of the fabric passes over it.

'ing extendingbnly partly into the fabric and in proportion to its width. Should the fabric be wide it 'lnlght be necessary to inter- After the woven fabric passes over the conical drum or beam thus descrlbed 1t 1s received and wound on the piece beam or drum which is also conical and similar to the drum just described.

It is evident that in weaving thus the cross threads or WGftSlilClltttG from the smaller curve of the fabric and diverge towardthe larger curve where they are farther apart. This gradually increases" the size of the spaces between'the threads at and toward the'outer or larger curve and makes the fabric there thinner and looser 111 texture.

To counteract this I interpose additional crossthre'ads atuntervals during'the weavpose a second series of cross threads near the uniformity inarginandonly for shortdistance into the fabric. This. process is well known to the weaver and can be carried out by the ordinary harnessing of the loom or on the ac quard system.

Where puttees are required narrow I can' instead of using the above process secure warp threadsgradually nearer to eachother toward the outer margin, or gradually in creasing their size.

To prevent raveling or slipping of the upper folds of the puttee over the lower ones--- which frequently occurs on the march or in action when puttees are smooth as now in use I weave longitudinal ridges on the fabric by having an occasional warp thread thicker than the others, and diagonal ridges can be produced by twill weaving. Either device makes the folds adhere firmly.

As thus' woven 9;

blank which is approximately semicircular when laid on a flat surface as shown by A in Fig. 1. To reduce'the curve at both ends I subject them to soap and water treatment 'similar to the process of fulling which is feet ofthe knee or upper end and 1-}- feet b ofthe boot or lower end are thus treated ,water, assisted,

of soda as mentioned. v i Two orthree small plaits Z d (Fig. .are now put 1n theupper margin 0, which only are tightly' as the inner margin is in which a pins such as P .P. The unstretched area 0 contracts under the influence of the soap'and 1f necessary, by carbonate was originally convex.

The end of the puttee is then tapered in the end 2 2.

' f to the "and the unstrctched part a is pushed away it so astokeep it in as "as possible causing it of texture simply by placing the rounded as worn. The hem feet makes oneputtce I the lower edge well known to the trade. A lengthlc of 2};

I stitch a closelywoven curved tape r 10 "jecting beyond the end.

l) wearer to any the upper end of the puttee tofinish at reguthe following manner. I fold the upper margin 0 like a hem (Fig. 5) over the inner side (preferably) of the puttee beginning with a very fine hem at a point x, 2 feet from the end and ending about 1;- inches wide at While the tension along the line from a; to a Fig. 5) is "maintained stretching it about 2 inches longer than the lower margin (4 the long triangular fold c (Fig. 5) is stitched along its edge by stitches portion on which itlies while this or back from the endby the person stitching relaxed acondition to become crimped. About 6"inches ofthe lower edge at 2 having been previously tucked in between the folds at the end, the folds are pres'sed'and stitched, as shown by it in Fig. 6.

The last twofeet of the puttee are in this manner evert'ed as shown. This enables the puttee to *fitaccurately below the knee without puckering.

Finally'the end of the puttee is capped for about three inches of its length with closely wovenfabrie Z (Fig. 7), this fabric being about one inch wide and folded upon itself longitudinally"to embrace the end of the puttee. The corners of the'fabric Z are at" m where the ends are sewn into the ptitteeat the free end. f Itsuse' is to stop raveling of the'end and to receive a hook at which secures the end oftheputtee when worn and obviates the useof 6 feet of tape. Other advantages of'thi's tapering are esthetic and practical, whenthe puttee is g F ig. 7 makes 'theupper margin of the puttee doubly strong. The

tapered part cannot be ov'eitighten'ed on account of its structure while it makes a "very neat finish instead ofthe uglysquare finish of the present puttee.

I I finish boot'end' of the puttee (after'istraightening it as shown in Fig. 3) in' the manner shown in Fig. 8. 1 fold V p of the boot end outside in for about 12 inches from p to 9 tapering in width to 1-}; inches at the end and I tuck in between the folds The ordinary puttee is soon worn here by the friction of the'boot and this fold protectsmy puttee.

the projecting edges.

To protect the lower margin still further 111- so as to extend 5 inches along the lower 5 inches profolded margin, theremaining Into thi'st'ape I fix a detachable hook s such, as is "disclosed in my British Patent 7536 of 1915 to attach theputtee to the boot and keep it from slipping. I W a This hook 8 can be changed at will by the point along the tape to enable lation point. p

As regards knitted or hosiery'fabrics, or

warp loom fabrics which have warp threads similar to ordinary weaving, the process of knitting the puttee fabric 011 the curve is very simple.

I need not describe the process of making fabrics from loops-it is tOo well known to the trade.

Suffice it to say that the loops on the inner curve of the p'uttee fabric, may by my inven tion be knitted smaller, becoming gradually longer toward the outer and larger curve.

The size of the loops in hosiery fabrics as is well known is determined by the distance the jacks are allowed to fall. This is regulated by the falling bar which can be raised or lowered by screw-nuts at either end. It is an easy matter therefore to graduate the size of the loops by slanting or lowering the bar at the side where the loops are to be larger.

My process of knitting on the curve applies to both knitting with a single thread, or where warp threads are used.

As thus made my improved puttee has the following advantages in addition to those already mentioned. It looks well and shows the curves of the leg. It fits quite closely yet softly, at the lower margins of the folds without any dragging. Indeed on any part of the leg it can be pinched out nearly an inch resuming its position perfectly owing to its softness and elasticity. It allows full ankle action and muscular action and there is no feeling of constriction at any point. Its length is only 9% feet materially less than the puttee now in use and it therefore saves valuable time.

I claim 1. A method of making puttees consisting of making a flat fabric blank in the form of a curve and then straightening the two ends for a suitable distance for the knee and ankle portions by soap and water treatment, dur-- ing which the area near the concave edge is permanently stretched and the remaining area near the convex margin allowed to contract.

2. A method of making puttees consisting of making a flat fabric blank in the form of a curve and reversing the curvature at the two ends, by shaping it while in a plastic state under soap and water treatment.

3. A method of making puttees, consisting of making a flat fabric blank in the form of a curve and reversing the curvature at the two ends by shaping it while in a plastic state under soap and water treatment and plaiting the convex margin.

4-. A method of making puttees consisting of making a flat fabric blank in the form of a curve, straightening the two ends in such manner as to form elastic portions therein, putting elastic portions under tension and sewing them while in such condition to portions not under tension in order to overt the latter with respect to their original curvature when the tension is relaxed.

5. A method of making puttees consisting of making a flat fabric blank in the form of a curve and reversing the curvature at the two ends by first straightening the ends for a suitable length corresponding to the knee and ankle portions by soap and water treatment, leaving the outermost area contracted and elastic and the innermost area stretched and relatively inelastic, then inserting pla'its in. the outer margin, and making a long triangular fold of the latter and stretching and stitching it upon the inner area, so that when it is relaxed the desired eversion is produced.

6. A method of making puttees consisting of making a flat fabric blank in the form of a curve and then straightening the two ends for a suitable distance for the knee and ankle portions by soap and water treatment, during which the area near the concave edge is permanently stretched and the remaining area near the convex margin allowed to con tract, and tapering the ends by folding the upper and lower margin for a short distance at each end for the knee and ankle portions respectively.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH BOYD.

Witnesses:

W. G. JoHNs'roNE, JOHN F. GLAFFEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. G. 

